"A sequel that doesn’t live up to its predecessor…should I be surprised?"

Yoshi's island was one of my favorite games for the super Nintendo. It had colorful music, lush backgrounds, and the variety of different area, along with the variety in enemies, which most of them were new to the (then Mario) series, along with unique boss fights made this game a classic. Despite the gameplay was great, these things just added to the fun factor that much more. So when I got this game, I asked myself if this game would maintain that same feeling that yoshis island had given me.

Story 8.5/10

Seeing as really no Mario game really revolves around story, I wasn't really surprised this game had a simple storyline. Just by the dialogue that the narrator says you can tell this game was aimed for young children. Anyways, Bowser has gone back in time to capture all the babies of the world, as a certain 7 babies are “special” (I'm trying not to give EVERYTHING away) and with those babies he can take over the world. Although it isn't exactly original, I'm glad they didn't just rehash baby bowser trying take over the world, as there is a little bit of a twist when Present-bowser makes his appearance, which just about never happens in Mario games.

Gameplay 7.5/10
In this game, as opposed to only having Mario as the baby, you can now switch between baby peach, baby DK, and for short times, baby bowser and baby wario. Each baby has their own ability that can help you in certain situations. For example, DK can climb vines and Peach can use her umbrella to fly when you see wind. Although I am glad they built around the foundation yoshi's island had, unlike a lot of others who's mottos are “if it aint broke don't fix it”, I believe they could have made this system a little better. To me it just seemed so painfully obvious of which baby to use in the situation that it didn't even make a difference. For example, if you see vines, right away you know you need to use DK to climb them, or when you see wind, you don't have to ponder about which character to use, you just know you need to use peach. To me, this can got a little tedious, and just broke up the flow of the game, as you had to go to a stork station for every character switch.

Other than that, the way this game plays is basically the same. Swallow enemies to create eggs, and as your “ammo”, use them to shoot everything from enemies to flying balloons to help you get through the level at any cost.

They also brought one thing from Yoshi's island back that I really enjoyed, which was the collecting aspect. In every level there are 20 red coins, 5 red flowers and 30 stars and the amount of each you have in the end will add up to a “score”, and if you get perfect scores in all the levels of a world, you get rewarded. Although that was also in Yoshis island, they also added “character coins”, which is where you need to get to a “secret area of a level with a certain character, and you'll be rewarded with these coins, which will also unlock things for you.

Although the collecting aspect was executed near perfectly in Yoshis island, something that made it way too difficult was the dual screen aspect. In this game you can “switch” between screens by having yoshi looking up or down, in which case once screen is the one yoshi is on while the other is what is below him or above him. Although this may seem like a cool aspect, it makes collecting things too difficult. Take for instance a cloud level, where there really no floor or ceiling. If you want to collect everything, you literally have to check above and below you throughout the whole level, which got really annoying for me.

Graphics 9/10
The graphics in this game were very well done, as they used the same art style that yoshi's island had, and were able to update it in the process without it losing its luster. For example, the background still had its luster, as you still went through the familiar sparkling caves and the grassy plains of Yoshi Island, while fighting familiar enemies such as shy guys and piranhas. Despite this, there are few new enemies to fight, which was a little disappointing, as really the only “new” enemies were the bosses. The bosses were for the most part “different” then the Yoshi's island ones. The variety, in terms of bosses, was very good, as you fought everything from giant enemy with balloons all over to an aerial battle with a giant goonie. The creativeness with some of the boss battles definitly gave me that "yoshi's island" feel.

Music: 3/10
Bleh heh heh heh…BLECK! That's basically the only way to describe it. The music just takes away from the atmosphere in this game! Other than a couple catchy songs, the soundtrack is a throwaway. These songs just never get going, are unexciting, and aren't even what I would call music, but just a bunch of “sounds”. The dungeon music, for example, are just a bunch of beeps and boops, no intensity like a dungeon should have.
Regular boss music is one of the better songs, as it isn't really intense, but it is really upbeat and catchy, and helped me get into boss battles a little more. The final dungeon was even more disappointing, as I was hoping for something a little more than the same beeps and boops of the regular dungeon. The final battle was also really disappointing, as instead of getting my adrenaline pumping, it was just another boring, uninspired piece. I mean, why couldn't they just have updated versions of songs from yoshi's island if they are too lazy to come up with quality songs themselves?

Why can't Nintendo use some of the nostalgia they have stored up? I mean they have freakin warehouses of it, so why can't they put it to good use? I would have loved a comeback from the baby bowser battle from Yoshi's island, and I was really disappointed when that wasn't there, but the horrible excuse for final boss battle song was.

Replay value: 8.5/10
5 worlds of 8 levels to explore along with extra levels you get for obtaining perfect scores and beating the game while getting all the collectibles will give you something to do for a long time. Also, in this game there are minigames which you can find along the way. Although they aren't very deep (for example it will be like swallow as many enemies as you can or use the flutter jump to get the farthest distance) they can keep you occupied for a little while. There is also a time trial mode, which is unlocked after you beat the game. It basically times you on how fast you beat each level and the amount of flowers/stars/red coins you have will contribute to the score. This is actually a good time waster, and you also get new levels for doing it.

Conclusion:7.5/10
I really liked some aspects of this game, such as the art style and the extras, but I wasn't too thrilled with the tediousness of switching babies and the horrid music. To me, the atmosphere made Yoshi's Island, and even though the graphics were brilliant, the music just made it that much worse for me. If you want a yoshi island game, get the Yoshi's island GBA remake of it or just wait until it comes out on the VC. If you have played the original and have been craving a remake for the decade or so, I just recommend borrowing it from a friend or renting it, as it isn't really that long (40 total levels and 50 when all levels are unlocked), but if you want to beat it 100%, then you should definitly buy it, as it is quite long if you count the extras.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/03/07